How to Class Up a Chicken Nugget Dinner

Last night was one of those hectic nights: we raced from one place to the next all afternoon, making it home just in time to get oldest boy into his football gear and off the practice. Then there was the matter of still needing to feed the rest of the family. Too exhausted to put together a proper meal, I broke out the frozen chicken nuggets. The kids were happy (such simple creatures!), but it was unappealing to me–until my favorite kitchen towel reminded me that wine is, indeed, a perfect complement to chicken nuggets. So I decided to class up my plate a little.

Instead of french fries, we had whole-wheat couscous with fresh tomato and cucumber. It’s a healthier alternative and takes five minutes to cook. The kids aren’t too adventurous when it comes to condiments, so they had their usual Hunt’s No High Fructose Corn Syrup Ketchup. I, on the other hand, am not a big ketchup fan. So using about 1/3 of a cup of the Hunt’s as a base, I added it to 1/4 cup chopped tomatoes, about 2 tsp snipped fresh basil, a pinch of sugar, and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil in the processor and pureed it. Since my husband and I like a little kick in our seasonings, I stirred in a few drops of Cholula garlic hot sauce. Voilà! Grown-up ketchup.

Poured a glass of Bartenura Moscato (the BEST moscato EVER) and my classed up dinner was complete. Not bad for 30 minutes in the kitchen.

If you are so inclined, you can make this meal even classier with homemade nuggets and ketchup from scratch. Here are a few recipes to get you started: